Vatican reveals new info of shroud of Turin

The shroud of Turin, the 14-foot-long linen cloth that many people believe was placed on Jesus Christ at the time of his burial, was hidden and
secretly venerated by medieval knights for more than 100 years, the Vatican announced Sunday, according to a story published by Britain's Times
Online.

This is very odd, the vatican would say this out loud at all! I remember watching on history channel, about the shroud..like 10 years ago, they did
carbon dating on it, tests.
I question what the vatican says...look at what they said abuot condoms and hiv..they have addmited aliens are our brothers, of anyone remembers
that. They said things over time that are questionable..and of course, thiers the infamous pope, after WWII, that helped SS officersa nd nazis use the
vatican as a safe haven.
Just sounds fishy to me...

There is some controversy about it. Some researchers claim that the sample of cloth used to date the Shroud was taken from an area that was damaged by
fire and subsequently repaired using fibres from that time period of the Middle Ages.

There is an interesting documentry about this. I'll see if I can dig it up. I just watched most of it two weeks ago.

curious indeed the Vatican speaks about the Templars secreting the shroud now, but then they are not known particularly for the timeliness of their
reactions...

The carbon dating controversy was indeed over whether a later patched piece of the shroud was tested and i must say I never came across any definitive
answer to that.

I also recall an article from over a decade ago that had studied the pollens embedded in the shroud and found that many plant species were identified
as coming from Israel and were consistent with what flora one would expect for the time of Jesus' death. FWIW.

I believe the shroud is the real deal. Carbon dating was done on the patches that were sewn into the shroud where it was damaged by fire. So the
results showed a later date than 33 ad. The results concluded the material dated back to the time of the fire.

As far as the Vatican releasing this information now? I'm curious about it. My conspiring mind wonders why there is so much interest in the Templars
lately. It all seems to "manipulated."

The Vatican could have a motive for releasing this information on the shroud. By claiming that it was kept by the Templars, it pushes the dates, of
its being known, back to before the dates of the known fakes. Just claiming that anyone at all definitely possessed this very thing, gives it an air
of legitimacy. The church would find it very useful for gaining authority in the European Union (who have the crown of Mary as their flag) if they had
something like a holy object that makes a good visual image in people's minds that even actual unbelievers could think was at least plausible. If
atheists could have a bit of doubt in their minds that the religionists may be right, they would not be a block to the Vatican setting themselves up
as the great decider in religious affairs, meaning having a actual political office.
That would be a mistake. Real religion, even if you decide not to have religion in your life, is not something that should be regulated by the
government. That's why it is the first amendment to the US Constitution, that government should not interfere with the practice of religion. Belief
in God or Jesus is useless if it is made political or a state law. Belief is only useful to an individual when it is an outgrowth of his own
conscience. No matter how real God or Jesus is, that gives no authority to a human agency to become the arbiters of the dispensing of religious
benefits to the people. The Vatican can claim whatever authority they want but I am not going to accept it or give homage to them that belongs to the
supreme entity of my choice.

It's not so much it's a "secret" the Vatican always knew and only decided to reveal recently, it's that the relevant documents have only been
recently rediscovered in the Vatican archives - and with 2000 years of information in there they are pretty big archives.

I remember reading a book years ago that suggested the "Holy Grail" was in fact the "Holy Grill", ie a description of the box with grilled
aperatures in which the shroud was kept and partially displayed - anyone else remember hearing/reading that?

Whether it is what it is claimed to be is a matter of faith - another one of those things faith in Christ throws up. Fortunately there will never be
"conclusive proof" beyond that of faith as that would severly limit people's freedom to believe.

[For the contributor(s) who wish to allude to condoms and "Hitler's Pope" a look at the two subjects in my signature might lead you to question
these particular truthinesses.]

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